Looked at Neptune the last two nights. Both it and Uranus show as blue-green disks, small but definitely not starlike. I had the 11 inch on it at an outreach event Friday and just about everyone who viewed it could see the difference clearly.

The DSLR was attached as prime focus.exposure 1 seciso 640010:33pmI had aligned the scope, then selected Neptune in the Goto and snapped a few photos. The challenge is that I can't see anything in the viewfinder or LCD until after the photo is taken, as the objects are too dim. Tonight I'm going to make sure I can find and identify it in the eyepiece first.

The DSLR was attached as prime focus.exposure 1 seciso 640010:33pmI had aligned the scope, then selected Neptune in the Goto and snapped a few photos. The challenge is that I can't see anything in the viewfinder or LCD until after the photo is taken, as the objects are too dim. Tonight I'm going to make sure I can find and identify it in the eyepiece first.

That's a very good idea. Be sure you use enough magnification to discern a disc on an object that is only 2" across. Most people can comfortably see 3' separation....so you will need in the area of 150X-ish to be sure to tell Neptune from stars. In the 8" at 150,you will have a exit pupil 1.4 mm, pretty nice size for this purpose. You MAY see color, you MAY not...but you should discern a disc.This should nail it for you. Also, be aware that software may not be perfectly accurate, so you might need to pan around a bit in order to identify Neptune for certain.

You will not get a disc at prime focus though and will need to go afocal. From this website,

Not being an astrophotographer, the natural question I have is why trust the Goto? It is unlikely to center so well that you will have the planet properly framed. Why not put in a high powereyepiece and identify Neptune visually, center it and track while rigging for photography?

Neptune is small as mentioned aboveand rather blue. In darker skies and high poweran8" will reveal Triton as well.

FWIW, I have been able to pick up (visually) Neptune as a tiny purplish disc at 166x in my 6SE, so it is absolutely within the capability of your 8SE. Never tried any astrophotography so can't offer any feedback there. Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

For now the photography thing is just documenting what I have seen, rather than getting great photos. I'm much more into the visual eyepiece viewing. Still, it is fun when you plug that memory card into the PC and and find out you got a really cool shot.